Based in Calgary, Alberta, Curtis Cutshaw’s mediums have always included painting and drawing. In 2005 he developed a unique approach to drawing where he acts as the “medium” through which dowsing rods, held by the artist, move when water is found underground. With pens on paper held beneath them, several layers of lines are recorded, much like a seismograph. They are then scanned, enlarged and colored, each image sized according to the scale Cutshaw prefers. Cutshaw’s education includes 1989 residency program Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, Skowhegan, Maine, and 1988 Nova Scotia College of Art & Design, New York City Loft Program, graduating with a Diploma of Painting with Distinction in 1989 later receiving several awards in art. Kostuik Gallery has represented Cutshaw since 2000.
I thought I would start off with one of the first statements I made about my Dowsing Rod Series in 2007. It will give you some idea of where my work came out of and how you can approach the work. Once we get that stuff out of the way I will be able to get into more detail about my work and what I do.
CURTIS CUTSHAW - Artist Statement
Two years ago while vacationing at the family farm, a friend noticed the dowsing reds lying on the porch and asked what they were. I explained that they were used to find water underground.
The dowsing process involves holding two metal rods in each hand and as you walk over the land the rods will move involuntarily if there is water below. I learned this technique from my father, who was taught by his father. I was intrigued to see if I could turn this process into a drawing or some sort of image.
Like a seismograph, I attached a string to one dowsing rod and then a pen to the end of the string. Moving across the land I let the pen flow over the sheet of paper recording the movements of the dowsing rod-pulling the drawing from the ground. Over the next six months, I made approximately fifteen thousand drawings with a dowsing rod.
Back in my studio with stacks of these dowsed drawings, I was intrigued on where I could take them. The involuntary line the dowsing rod had made wad foreign to the twenty years of drawings I had previously produced. One day in the studio I started reworking the dowsed drawings -strengthening some lines, leaving others, letting my eye find its way in.
These drawings begged for larger scale. I did not want to simply transfer these to a large canvas and paint them in, losing the spontaneity. A fellow artist suggested that I could simply enlarge them by making prints. This process then allowed me to work with the background without losing the quality of the original drawing.
These prints have now found a home between my painting and drawing practice, acting as a bridge between what had been two separate practices.
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Wick 2012
Bar Web 2009
All images are copyright Curtis Cutshaw
